V. I. LENIN — TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
From Lenin personally to the members of the C.C.
11/VII 05.

Dear friends! A series of letters from Russia from all corners, news from Aleksandrov [D. S. Postolovsky], conversation with Kleschen [I. I. Bibikov] and several other arrivals — all of this strengthens in me the conviction that in the work of the C.C. there is some kind of internal defect, a defect in organization, in the arrangement of work. There is no Central Committee, no one feels it, no one notices it — such is the general voice. And the facts confirm this. There is no visible political leadership of the C.C. over the party. And yet all members of the C.C. are working to the point of exhaustion! What is the matter?

In my view, one of the fundamental causes of this is the absence of regular C.C. bulletins. During a revolution, to lead through oral conversations, through personal contact — that is sheer utopia. One must lead publicly. All other forms of work must be subordinated to this form, wholly and unconditionally. The responsible writer of the C.C. must above all take care to write (or receive from collaborators — but the editor himself must always be ready to write himself) twice a week a bulletin on party and political themes (liberals, Socialist-Revolutionaries, minorities, schism, the zemstvo delegation, trade unions, etc. etc.) and republish it in every way, hectograph it immediately (if there is no printing house) in 50 copies and distribute it to committees for republication. Articles in Proletarii could sometimes serve, perhaps, for such bulletins — with certain modifications. I cannot understand why this is not being done?? Have Schmidt [P. P. Rumyantsev] and Werner [A. A. Bogdanov] forgotten our conversations about this? Is it really impossible to write and distribute even one bulletin a week?? The "Announcement" about the III Congress has not been reprinted in full in Russia to this day: this is such a disgrace, such a fiasco of all these much-vaunted "technicians" of the C.C., that I simply cannot understand what Winter [L. B. Krasin] was watching? what are Sommer [A. I. Lyubimov] and others watching? After all, there are even committee printing houses?!?

It appears that C.C. members do not at all understand the tasks of "public demonstration." And without this there is no center, there is no party! They work to the point of collapse, but they work like moles, at meetings, at gatherings, with agents, and so on and so forth. This is a direct squandering of forces! If there are no people — assign third-rate forces to this, tenth-rate forces to this, but yourselves by all means carry out political leadership, issue bulletins above all. Then — personal appearances at district congresses (in Polesie at the congress there was no one. A scandal. They were on the verge of breaking away!)*), at conferences, and so on. One must directly publish something like a diary of the C.C., its bulletins, responding to every serious question with a bulletin twice a week. And it is not difficult to publish it: hectograph it in 50 copies and distribute it, have it printed at some committee, send it here. What is important is to speak up and speak openly, to stop being silent. Otherwise we here are completely cut off.

Perhaps it would be necessary to expand the composition of the C.C.? to take another half-dozen agents? I am certain that people could be found for this. Practically I can propose one thing at once: in view of the almost complete absence of correspondence between members of the C.C. (from Werner [A. A. Bogdanov] and Winter [L. B. Krasin] we have received only 2 letters, from Aleksandrov [D. S. Postolovsky] — only news from the road, "travel impressions," nothing more), it is absolutely necessary to carry out our general decision of 11/V 05 about the congress by 1/IX 05 2). For God's sake do not postpone this, do not be stingy about 200–300 rubles of expenses. Without this — there is enormous danger that we will not succeed in arranging matters as we should. And now it is not arranged at all. This is evident from all reports.

Until 1/IX there is still a month and a half. It is possible to have time to arrange matters and in good time organize a trip, corresponding about who should go and with Aleksandrov [D. S. Postolovsky]. I await your answer.

1) At the beginning of July there took place a district congress of Polesie organizations: Gomel, Klintsy, Orsha, Novozyбkov, Mogilev and others. On the question of the 3rd Congress and the 1st Conference of the Mensheviks, a resolution was adopted stating that the 3rd Congress cannot be recognized as an all-party congress, since all the main tendencies of the party were not represented in it, that the question of the legal legitimacy of the congress remains open, that the Polesie district congress of the Polesie Committee is not in solidarity with certain articles of the charter of the 3rd Congress, and so on.

The Polesie district congress nonetheless decided to submit to the central bodies elected at the 3rd Congress, but at the same time proposed to its Polesie Committee, with the aim of the most rapid possible unification of the entire party, to enter into relations with the Organizational Commission elected at the Menshevik conference.

2) See p. 282 of the present collection.